Rights + Freedoms

When you are celebrating Memorial Day weekend, what is it that really comes to mind for you? Do you think more deeply than grilling out with your buddies and beers in the backyard? Maybe thank a veteran when you pay enough attention to your surroundings beyond your phone screen? Do you dwell on the losses of others who are no longer here and able to celebrate with you? How do you decide to live your day to your maximum potential based on the freedoms and rights you are still privileged to as a great American citizen? How many of those rights are constantly under attack by other people that may or may not still exist by Memorial Day next year? You have to stand for the values you believe in if you still want to live with them in the same place they always have been. Standing means sacrificing, day in and day out. Celebrating means honoring the sacrifices it took to still stand free today, able to even celebrate. We take it all for granted in our fast-paced society, the true meaning behind traditions. We forget what Memorial Day represents, not just as one individual who served and sacrificed like Veteran's Day is meant for, but to remember those who have given all in order to protect our rights here and now after they have gone in the name of the cause. It's a day to exercise the freedoms we still hold value in and maximize our lives by living freely yet remembering to move with purpose. Opportunities can present themselves as inconveniences to the ungrateful heart. You cannot let a spoiled moment ruin the lifestyle you have worked hard to maintain, unless you realize your lifestyle needs a change, in which case should not turn spoiled just because of the neighbors when you still have the freedom to fucking move away from the rot. Choose to move because you want to feel the liberty in it, not because someone told you to move. What are you willing to do in order to protect your beliefs? Become aware of the sacrifice that is needed in order to make freedom possible, and remember to honor it when you get to celebrate and complain about how unfair your life is. There's always somebody somewhere else that has it worse than you, so appreciate what you do have and fight for those things to remain untouched when they are challenged. Stand with maximum effort while you still have your rights or they will knock you down and take your freedoms from you. Better to sacrifice yourself for the sake of your children's rights so that they may know the freedoms you take for granted daily and carry on significance of sacrifice through your actions than to just roll over and let others have them because you were too soft to put up a fight when the time came for one.